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Upon retiring yesterday, Philip Rivers ended his sequence of 240 consecutive games started, with 252 counting the playoffs. This was the longest streak in the NFL and the second longest in NFL history.
With Rivers’ retirement, Russell Wilson now has the longest running streak of consecutive matches for a quarterback, with 144 games and 160 counting the playoffs.
To get an idea of how unlikely someone is to break Brett Favre’s all-time record, consider the following: Wilson has the longest running streak, but is not even halfway down Favre’s record of 297 consecutive matches (321 counting playoffs).
When Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady enters the field in the NFC Championship Game, it will be his 89th consecutive game. This is the second longest active streak in the NFL. Counting the playoffs, Brady has three of the 18 longest streak of consecutive games started in NFL history. Brady started 128 consecutive games from his first start as a substitute for Drew Bledsoe until his knee injury in 2008. Then Brady started 126 consecutive games from his return from his knee injury to the suspension of Deflategate in 2016. And now Brady is in 88 consecutive matches.
With the NFL planning to move on to 17-game seasons, it will be a little easier for a quarterback to reach Favre. But even in 17 regular season games a year, Wilson is nine years away from drawing Favre.